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I never understood them i mean theres genestealer cults? and apparently they can spread with just one genestealer aboard a ship or something? and they can infiltrate population centers and people have to be suspicious. Do they infect people somehow or something? are they like alien and that's how they spread through hosts or something? What takes place during a genestealer infection. No matter how many tyranid codexs i read i still cant understand them.

Here's a pretty concise explanation. And you have links for cults, etc.

Simply put, Genestealers are called this because they were meant to infiltrate worlds ahead of the hivefleets and weaken indigenous life by tainting them with the Genestealer's Kiss which is a dna parasite which rewires the nervous system and/or brain to become allegent to the swarm. Because they do this en mass while remaining stealth small vesitges of the population leave their hive worlds or tribes and gather in an area they feel compelled to then mate and protect their genetically commanded community. each new generation over time will look less and less human until a large group of genestealers are born and soon the hive-fleet attacks.

this is particularly horrifying because people want to be part of these cults and they can infiltrate high levels of authority undermining key locations and attack sites by now allowing supplies to flow that way. for example it isn't unheard of for planetary govenors to be infested and hide this fact from the inquisition.

 Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:
Simply put, Genestealers are called this because they were meant to infiltrate worlds ahead of the hivefleets and weaken indigenous life by tainting them with the Genestealer's Kiss which is a dna parasite which rewires the nervous system and/or brain to become allegent to the swarm.

.. and that, is the main reason why I always expected Tyranids to have all other races as possible allies! I was completely shocked to realize that this part of the fluff was not used in the allies system. The genestealers were the perfect catalyst to provide Tyranids with a complete set of allies. The possibility to convert allies with tyranid features to represent different generations would have been so fun.

paqman wrote:

 Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:
Simply put, Genestealers are called this because they were meant to infiltrate worlds ahead of the hivefleets and weaken indigenous life by tainting them with the Genestealer's Kiss which is a dna parasite which rewires the nervous system and/or brain to become allegent to the swarm.

.. and that, is the main reason why I always expected Tyranids to have all other races as possible allies! I was completely shocked to realize that this part of the fluff was not used in the allies system. The genestealers were the perfect catalyst to provide Tyranids with a complete set of allies. The possibility to convert allies with tyranid features to represent different generations would have been so fun.

Well the problem is that as the hive fleet gets closer, the cult attacks the infrastructure of the planet and causes chaos which helps the overall invasion happen. That is all well and good, except once the invasion happens the swarm ingests everything on the planet including the cultists and their progeny as if they were (and are) just part of the planetary mass to be consumed. Hence no allies for tyranids because if you are not *the* swarm you are food. The cultists form a beacon and pave the way for the *the* swarm, but are not part of it and therefore are food and not allies.

(edited because I missed an important *not* in the discussion. )

Skriker

There was a pretty cool article in White Dwarf once. Here's a transcript: http://redelf.narod.ru/w40k/ix/ix_genestealer.html

Well.....I kinda wish i didn't look into it. Genestealers are horrid lol sexual deviants of the galaxy. They remind me of an even more twisted version of the alien birth cycle.

AtomicEngineer wrote:They remind me of an even more twisted version of the alien birth cycle.

Not an accident, if I know the guys at GW.

Given the track record, no its not a coincidence.

Grey Templar wrote:coincidence

That's the word I've been looking for.

paqman wrote:

 Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:
Simply put, Genestealers are called this because they were meant to infiltrate worlds ahead of the hivefleets and weaken indigenous life by tainting them with the Genestealer's Kiss which is a dna parasite which rewires the nervous system and/or brain to become allegent to the swarm.

.. and that, is the main reason why I always expected Tyranids to have all other races as possible allies! I was completely shocked to realize that this part of the fluff was not used in the allies system. The genestealers were the perfect catalyst to provide Tyranids with a complete set of allies. The possibility to convert allies with tyranid features to represent different generations would have been so fun.

Well... to be honest those allies couldn't really help when it comes down to the combat, but maybe they'd give them a codex entry of cultist.

 Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:

paqman wrote:

 Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:
Simply put, Genestealers are called this because they were meant to infiltrate worlds ahead of the hivefleets and weaken indigenous life by tainting them with the Genestealer's Kiss which is a dna parasite which rewires the nervous system and/or brain to become allegent to the swarm.

.. and that, is the main reason why I always expected Tyranids to have all other races as possible allies! I was completely shocked to realize that this part of the fluff was not used in the allies system. The genestealers were the perfect catalyst to provide Tyranids with a complete set of allies. The possibility to convert allies with tyranid features to represent different generations would have been so fun.

Well... to be honest those allies couldn't really help when it comes down to the combat, but maybe they'd give them a codex entry of cultist.

I guess you must be right. I might have had my judgment of the genestealers a bit clouded by the fact that I used them in one of my RPGs a a long time ago and they were pretty adaptative and manipulative to the point of being influencial enough to control nation government.

But in any case, I thought it would have been cool for GW to addapt the fluff a little bit in order to allow some armies as allies.

The thing is, a Genestealer Cult isn't represented well by any armies. While they might infect high level military officers, that doesn't mean that the rank and file are going to like attacking their own people if they are not also infected.

Genestealer Cultists would be more like the new Chaos Cultists - untrained civilians with autoguns riding around in civilian vehicles (the old 2nd edition list have them riding around im Limos), with more mutated Cultists as leaders (replacing, say, power weapon upgrades with rending claw or scything talon upgrades) and small commando-like squads of Purestrain Genestealers, led by a Broodlord.

It's something they could easily do with an allies codex - give them one entry in each FoC slot. HQ - Broodlord, Elite - Genestealer squad, Troops - Cultist squad, Fast Attack - Cultists in Limo, Heavy Support - Something like an IG HWS squad?. Not enough to make a whole army, but enough to add some variety to a Tyranid army.

And while the statement above that the Cult is simply part of the food the Tyranids are after, they do still help the invading swarm by hitting supply lines and the like from behind the lines as they emerge from hiding. Having the Cult outflank would be pretty characterful.

There is a leaked release list that shows Genestealer cult models along with an assortment of other seemingly random units that don't fit into any codices.

I believe, assuming the leak is genuine, that this hints at GW releasing an Ally codex sometime in the near future. A codex full of some units that can be fielded as allies only and not as a stand alone army.

This may add some Tyranid allies to the mix, along with the opprotunity to spice up all the other armies.

That list was debunked.

 -Loki- wrote:
The thing is, a Genestealer Cult isn't represented well by any armies. While they might infect high level military officers, that doesn't mean that the rank and file are going to like attacking their own people if they are not also infected.

.

Well, you just convinced me that my idea wasn't so great after all

My take on it was that they would be like IG conscipts, exept with only laspistols

 Somedude593 wrote:
My take on it was that they would be like IG conscipts, exept with only laspistols

So... like Chaos Cultists.

They wouldn't be military though - Cults survive by existing in secret. The best way to let everyone know you are there is to start infecting Joe Grunt and hoping the rest of his platoon don't notice the fething huge claw where his hand should be.

-Loki- wrote:They wouldn't be military though - Cults survive by existing in secret.

This was already mentioned in the "why don't 'nids get Genestealer-IG allies?" thread ... I never quite understood where this belief came from.

->

Games Workshop wrote:Many of these hybrids are able to exercise the human intelligence stolen from their genestock, learning quickly how to utilise conventional weaponry and infiltrating military and political institutions to further the aims of the sect. Worshipping their Patriarch as a god, they stop at nothing in their corruption of the dominant command structure. To this end, leaders of the cult direct their purestrain brood-kin to impregnate influential figures within the local authorities and planetary defence forces. Those implanted subsequently lose all free will, lying, murdering and blackmailing to further their power, the better to tear down organisations from within when their true masters descend from the stars.

 Lynata wrote:

-Loki- wrote:They wouldn't be military though - Cults survive by existing in secret.

This was already mentioned in the "why don't 'nids get Genestealer-IG allies?" thread ... I never quite understood where this belief came from.

->

Games Workshop wrote:Many of these hybrids are able to exercise the human intelligence stolen from their genestock, learning quickly how to utilise conventional weaponry and infiltrating military and political institutions to further the aims of the sect. Worshipping their Patriarch as a god, they stop at nothing in their corruption of the dominant command structure. To this end, leaders of the cult direct their purestrain brood-kin to impregnate influential figures within the local authorities and planetary defence forces. Those implanted subsequently lose all free will, lying, murdering and blackmailing to further their power, the better to tear down organisations from within when their true masters descend from the stars.

Like i said, the military is held to a high stake of xenophobia and inquisitorial supervision. Even though soldiers in theory could be infected it in my mind wouldn't be a large enough collective to have much of a military presence. I would like to see cultists return to nids with maybe auto-pistols as that isn't military tech either. I think it would be nice because it would give them a chance to properly use ADL's and maybe even allow for a cheap infiltrating unit of ranged fighters who might have a d3 disguised genestealers within the group when they charge or are assaulted.